Reading is Fundamental!

 One of our favorite literacy projects is our baby book bags. We partner with the Cook Memorial and Freedom libraries to provide newborns and their families with a handcrafted bag which contains books and information about the importance of reading as soon as children are born. We hope this inspires families to get into the habit of reading daily to their newborns which will lead to a life time of exploration and love of books. 

Lots of cutting before lots of sewing to construct the bags.

Members of our Club present books for the baby book bags.

Service with a Smile

 Altrusans love to serve their community. We always do it with a smile. Here are a few of our members participating in 2 of our ongoing projects; End 68 Hours of Hunger and serving lunch at the The Gibson Senior Center The number of bags packed for End 68 hours of hunger has increased over the last several months. Food prices as well have increased and so our club gave a $2000 donation to help fill the shelves for packing. 

With several new members initiated comes new ideas! It is exciting to think about helping Rotary to Clean the Kanc in June, hosting a fun day at Constitution Park in Ossippee, and partnering with Window Dressers to assist with making pine frame window inserts that would result in lower heating costs. All of these plans will be discussed at the March meeting, Tuesday March 5 @ 5:30 at the Madison Library.

$ 2000.00 will help stock the shelves. Altrusa members with Mandy McDonald, the program coordinator.

Mardi Gras festivities at the Gibson Center

New Members and brown bag auction fun at the holiday party

The brownbag auction is a fun way to raise a few funds for our club expenses!Lots of laughs!

We initiated 3 new members at our holiday party and all have enthusiastically jumped into volunteering efforts. We welcome Anne Marie, Tina and Jess. Excited to have you join us.

Ann Marie with sponsor Pat.


 

Tina with sponsor Cathy

Jess with sponsor Cathy

Holiday volunteering

New members with Pat enjoying the party

Face painting is always popular

 It's December and everywhere you look there are festivities galore!. Two of our Altrusa favorites are hosting the annual party for our Carroll County foster families and our cookie walk a bout where we deliver platters of sweet treats to local police, nursing homes, health professionals to say thanks for your dedicated service to our community.  Check out some of our favorites highlight

Santa and both his helpers

Some of the set up crew

It's always fun to gather cookies to deliver.

The "Gibson Girls" and jumping into fall events!

 The summer flew by and now October is nearly over! Whew! Even though time is quickly flying by, our Altrusa  club has been busy. Check out the "Gibson Girls" a rotating shift of members who serve lunch at our local Gibson Senior Center. It is a great time and so many smiles and interactions with folks.

Fall events have included many hands peeling and coring apples for a local church's apple crisp booth held at the Fryeburg Fair. It was a LOT of apples and our annual volunteer booth to assist the Laura Foundation at their Halloweentown. Despite the torrential downpours a good time was had by kids and adults alike.

Halloweentown is a fun event held for the local families. Kids of all ages visit the decorated cabins participate in games and of course "trick or"treat". This is one of 2 major fundraisers for  The Laura Foundation and they rely on goodwill donations as well as a host of volunteers to assist.

So many apples !!!!!!! The Congregational Church in North Conway, fondly known as "The Brown Church" sells pans and pans of apple crisp at the fair each year. We happily gather with their congregants to peel, core and slice apples for this delicious homemade dessert.

Saying thanks and welcoming new board members

 June brings our annual meeting when we gather to celebrate the past year's accomplishments, install new board members and recognize members. This year we welcomed Theresa and Sue to the board of directors and honored Janelle with her 5 year pin. In May we said goodbye to Cathy who has moved to Maine. She had been a very active member taking on multiple roles over the years most recently  as newsletter editor and secretary. Our newest member Gena will be initiated in the fall and we will install Cindy as our secretary. Many thanks to Jan and Cindy who were our departing board members. Now we look to some fun activities for the summer and a bit of rest before our fall projects start.

Theresa and Sue our new board members

Thanks Cathy ! We will miss you

Congrats to Janelle on 5 years!

Serving our community!

 This Spring we had many opportunities to make a difference in our communities. Thanks to Ken Swett's carpentry skills we were able to provide Starting Point with brand new bookcases which we filled with their wish list of books. These books will be available for guests as well as group discussion.

Ken and his book case

We also provide comfort bags to Starting Point for the guests. Filled with personal care items and a note of encouragement these bags help ease the transition for someone exiting a dangerous domestic situation. 

 

Make Way for Readers: Our literacy committee gathered to create packets for local preschoolers to encourage reading and to promote the 1000 books before Kindergarten program that many of our local libraries sponsor. Packets included a cute magnet/bookmark and information for parents about the importance of reading.

Dr Seuss and Making Way for Readers

Serving food is always a pleasure. We packed bags for end 68 hours of hunger, served breakfast and lunch at the May Habitat for Humanity's women's build and donned our aprons to serve lunch to the many volunteers who assist at the Gibson Senior Center.

Serving the Volunteers at Gibson Lunch

Providing fuel for the Women's Build

Bags packed for End 68 Hours of Hunger